Sunday, 11 November 2018

OnePlus launched Oneplus 6T a few days back which is successor to summer launched OnePlus 6. Every year OnePlus launches two phones in it's flagship lineup one is the regular one and other is the 'T' version. This 'T' version comes with some betterment from the regular version but with the same chipset. So we can say that it is just a slight improvement over the regular version. OnePlus 6T also comes with the same chipset as OnePlus 6 that is Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 but has some improvements here and there. So let's see what extra features does this OnePlus 6T has.

Specifications

Size: 6.41 inch

Display: AMOLED Type display

Resolution: 1080*2340 pixels

Weight: 185 grams

SIM: Dual SIM

OS: Oxygen OS 9.0.5 based on Android pie

Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845

GPU: Adreno 630

Camera:

Primary:16MP,f/1.7 + 20MP,f/1.7

Video: upto 4K @60fps, 720p @480fps

Secondary: 16MP,f/2.0

3.5mm jack: No

USB: USB Type-C

Fast charging: Dash charging

MicroSD: No

Design

Design of OnePlus 6T is a little bit different from OnePlus 6. Earlier in OnePlus 6, there is one bigger notch in the middle which houses earpiece, front camera and sensors. But now in OnePlus 6T there is one smaller waterdrop notch in the middle which has increased the aspect ratio of the display to 19.5:9 from 19:9 on OnePlus 6. OnePlus 6T has a screen size of 6.44" measured at diagonals. The display is optic AMOLED type display with 1080*2340 pixels resolution. This time bezels of the phone are also little bit slimmer than on OnePlus 6. This display has 402 PPI density. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6 on front. The back of the phone is made of glass which is also Corning Gorilla glass 6. OnePlus 6T has an aluminum frame for better build quality. This new waterdrop notch personally looks better to me than the earlier big notch but still it depends upon personal preference.

Performance

OnePlus 6T is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset which also powers the earlier OnePlus 6. The chipset is really good as it is the top line chip from Qualcomm this year and many other flagship phones also uses this chip. So it is fully tested and trusted processor. This is built on 10nm architecture. It is based on octa core processor in which four kryo cores are cloaked at 2.8GHz each and other four kryo cores cloaked at 1.7GHz each. There should be no question regarding the performance of the phone, it has to be good as the chipset is the top line chipset of Qualcomm and we already know about the topnotch performance of Oneplus 6 which also runs on this chip. There is Adreno 640 GPU for higher graphic intensive tasks. So the gaming performance will also be really good.

Camera

OnePlus 6T comes with the same camera setup as OnePlus 6. There is dual camera setup at back 16MP,f/1.7, OIS + 20MP,f/1.7. The primary lens is normal lens while the secondary lens is for depth sensing. Primary lens has a pixel size of 1.22µm while secondary lens has a pixel size of 1.0µm. Both the cameras have aperture size of f/1.7 so the low lightening photography will be good. This camera can record videos upto 4K @60fps. It can also record 720p slomo videos @480fps. This camera also supports Optical Image Stabilization for stabilized videos. These all features are same as that on OnePlus 6 while there is one difference. OnePlus 6T comes with a new night mode which helps in enhancing the picture quality during night shots. This actually works while keeping the shutter speed lower which allows more light to enter the sensor and hence better night shots. It takes around 2 seconds to capture pic in this mode. And also we don't require any tripod to capture this shot, we can do it handheld. This feature will also come to OnePlus 6 with a software update. On front there is same 16MP,f/2.0 lens for selfies. This also has portrait mode for background blur.

Operating system

OnePlus 6T comes with Oxygen OS 9.0.1 based on latest Android Pie. The oxygen OS is very close to stock android so the user interface is really good. Also there is no bloatware in the device. Oxygen OS is just like the cherry on cake for OnePlus. The performance of OnePlus devices get very enhanced due to this Oxygen OS. This operating system is very well optimized by the company. And also OnePlus devices always come with top end Qualcomm's chip. So the combined effect of extremely fast chip and very well optimized OS results in very good performance. The performance of OnePlus devices is so good that it leaves behind many other flagship devices like Samsung Note 9.

Under display fingerprint sensor

OnePlus 6 comes with a physical fingerprint sensor at back which is not the case with OnePlus 6T. OnePlus 6T has an under display fingerprint sensor. Vivo was the first company to bring this under display fingerprint sensor in it's phone. In that it was quite inaccurate and slow as well but now in OnePlus 6T, it is little bit improved. It is fast and more accurate but not as good as a physical fingerprint scanner. It's placement is at front above the navigation bar. Whenever you touch it, a green light glows and the phone will be unlocked. OnePlus 6T also has face unlocking which uses the front camera and is very fast.

No 3.5mm jack

The most sad part about OnePlus 6T is that it doesn't have 3.5mm headphone jack. OnePlus has also followed the same trend just like Apple and many other smartphone brands to skip the headphone jack. While OnePlus 6 comes with this headphone jack. OnePlus has bundled a 3.5mm jack to Type-C adapter within the box. So we can connect our headphones to the phone but it would be better if OnePlus would have put 3.5 mm jack in the phone.

Battery

OnePlus 6T comes with a larger battery than OnePlus 6 that is

a 3700mah battery. So battery life will be significantly better on OnePlus 6T. Also OnePlus 6T comes with the very famous dash charging which was also present on OnePlus 6.

Memory and RAM

OnePlus 6T comes in three memory specifications that are 6GB/128GB, 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB. Earlier the lowest memory version available on OnePlus 6 was 64GB but this time it is 128GB which is a good thing as well as bad.

Conclusion

As OnePlus 6T comes with a lot of new features, so it's price will obviously be higher. OnePlus 6T 6GB RAM version starts at $549. The same storage but 8GB RAM model is priced at $579 and 256GB version is priced at $629. OnePlus 6 starting price was $529 for it's 64GB version. OnePlus is increasing it's phone price year after year. Earlier when OnePlus came in the market, it came as a brand which launch value for money flagship phones. But year after year that picture of OnePlus is diminishing with the increment in prices of it's phones. We know that this increment of phone's price is due to inflation in market and also company is improving the features in phone year after year which ultimately require more money to manufacture the phone. But OnePlus should remember it's position and for what it known for and then price it's smartphones accordingly. But this phone is still a very good phone at the price it comes. If you own a OnePlus 6 or OnePlus 5T, you can simply ignore this phone. But if you own some other phone and want to upgrade to a good flagship phone and your budget is around $500-$600, this is a perfect phone for you but you are going to miss that 3.5mm jack.

Sunday, 4 November 2018

Flagship Phones are getting costly but Budget Phones are just getting Better

Smartphones got prominent with the launch of Android and Apple phones in the market and now they have become quite common among people. HTC Dream G1 was the first commercial Android device which was launched in 2008 with the price tag of $180. It's price is not as high as other flagship phones in the market like iPhones. First iPhone was launched in 2007 that is iPhone 1, and it was a true flagship device with price tag of $499. Samsung launched it's first flagship device, Samsung S1 in 2010 to oppose iPhone 4 which costs $649 in the market. All these phones are the flagship phones from the companies.

iPhone 1 can be considered as the first true flagship device which came at price of $499. Year after year the price of iPhones increased. Every new version come with new features but it also comes with a higher price tag. For example iPhone 1 came with $499, iPhone 3G with $599, iPhone 4 with $599, iPhone 5 with $649 and it continued. After iPhone 5, iPhone 6 launched in two versions that is iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. Obviously plus model would be better than regular one and also be costlier. And it has happened with every iPhone till now. With the launch of iPhone X, Apple directly slashed the prices to $999 which made it the costliest iPhone ever and best also. This year we have iPhone XS and XS Max. iPhone XS starts at $999 while iPhone XS Max starts at $1099. We already know that bigger version will again be the best between two. So we can say that the prices of iPhones are increasing year after year. And it's not only the case with Apple, it is with every smartphone brand in the market like Samsung and Google. So why the prices are getting so much high? It has two reasons that are new better features and inflation in the market. Everything is getting costly like labor, materials, advertising, R&D etc. This is the reason which companies give why flagship phones are getting costly.

Now let's shift to some other stuff. Earlier there were very few brands available in the market like Samsung, LG, HTC etc. and also we are very much restricted to offline markets only. So we buy phones from these brands in mid range and budget segment also. But now with the integration of online market, many smartphone brands are available. Brands like Oneplus and Xioami have changed the whole smartphone market in budget and mid range segment in past few years. These brands give better value for money phones than Samsung or HTC at the same price. So people have understood this and they have started preferring these brands over Samsung or HTC.

But the question is how do they able to give so many features in their phones at such a price? There are many factors to consider. If we have to sell a phone in the offline market, there are many middle men involved in between the company and the market, so the price of phone keeps on increasing with every middle man involved. These brands sell their phones only in the online market so there is no middle men involvement. And pricing of phone don't get high with many persons involved. Secondly these brands also keep their profits per phone low which helps in reducing the cost of the device. Also they don't spend a lot on their R&D department while the companies like Samsung and Google spend a lot of money on R&D. These brands also don't spend a lot on advertising as well which further helps in reducing the cost of the device. So these are the main reasons for low cost of these devices.

But now some other companies have emerged in the market which are giving even better value for money phones than Xiaomi and Oneplus and that are Poco and Realme. While Poco is a sub brand of Xioami so technically it's Xioami. Poco F1 is the phone which is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 chipset and is avialble at just $300. So this is the cheapest phone to be powered by this chipset. Earlier Oneplus has this title. I am not saying Poco F1 is better than Oneplus 6, it's just better value for money phone. Same case is with Realme phones. Realme 1 and Realme 2 pro are just fantabulous phones at the price they are avialble.So here we saw that the budget and mid range phones are just getting better and better and that too at the same price or even cheaper. So what's actually happening in the market? Do we really have to go with such bigger brands for flagship devices?

Actually it depends upon you only. First of all flagship phones are the phones which have very high end features. Any new feature which comes in the market firstly comes to flagship devices. These have best processors, best cameras, best displays, best built quality, in short they have everything best. But these days problem with flagship brands is pricing. They don't price their phones aggressively which results in low sales. These brands should understand the smartphone market carefully and should price their phones accordingly as many persons have understood the condition and started going with other brands like Oneplus. If they will not pay attention to this, one day will come that their sales will decline to a huge level.